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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Last week one of our finalists revealed the contest had been a nice diversion as she battled a crud that left her abed. Clearly we needed another round to get her on the road to recovery!

Herewith the results of the Get Well Soon Writing Contest!

Glad to see that someone recognizes how things really are:

Craig 9:00pm

"A flash fiction contest by the QOTKU is it own
particular brand of evil."

Special recognition for a great line:

Terri Lynn Coop 9:09pm

"I pointed to my rank insignia. "Explain it to the
birds.""

Amy Schaefer 11:03pm

Wicked Stepmother
Booby Hatch

french sojourn 4:03am

“The Karaoke for Christ Quartet?”

Kastie 7:31pm
The monofilament lines of a dew-covered spider web are evil only to the fly.

CarolynnWith2Ns 7:43pm

"hay stalks whiskered up through the snow."

Special recognition for entries that were deeply disturbing!

Colin Smith 9:07pm

Nikola Vukoja 9:23pm

M. A. Nicholson 10:00pm

Alexandra (Ola) Jacunski 8:49am

ashland 6:47pm

Special recognition for entries that were downright hilarious!

Katharine Manning 9:36pm

Sisi 10:34pm

Amy Schaefer 11:03pm

french sojourn 4:03am

boblozzia 10:48am

Lenny Liang 12:06pm

Gorgeous example of why the Antagonist thinks he's the hero of
the story!

James Ticknor 12:50am

Special recognition for unusual form and style ( a Very Good
Thing!)

Curt David 8:41am

Special shout out to the my "lettuce is the
devil"comrade in steak:

Travis Erwin 10:00am

Special shout out to Gregory Shipman 6:37pm

Welcome back!

And here are the five semi-finalists

(1) El El Piper (our guest of honor!) 10:17pm

Mum was packing.

“I’m hungry,” Brother sniffed the corners of our nest. “When they stop moving,
can we nibble?”
“No, it’s a virus,” Mum scurried, nervous. “When humans blush like cheese rind
and moan and stiffen, we leave.”
Then, I heard the music. A Flute. Swinging in low, luscious tones and rising to
the skies in a delicate trill.
I scampered to the door. Just to see, to smell that melody. Sweet as cupcakes.
“Girl!” Mum screeched. “Close your ears to that evil!”
The piper danced away, trailing a squealing, monochromatic cape.
Brother ran past me, and I followed.

(2) Jared X 12:48pm

It’s a stupid breakup song. I wanted a retro sound so I
recorded it analog, in mono. Even that couldn’t mask the cloying melody and
blush-worthy rhymes. After it spread like a virus among the kids and their
parents, these details no longer mattered.

Dissenters coopted it for their demonstrations, the Family took notice. In my
corny lyrics, they heard evil intentions against their regime. They called me a
pied piper and placed me under arrest.

Now soldiers drag me into the Square with millions watching. They’ve promised
me leniency if I read the confession they wrote.

I start singing.

(3) JD Paradise 12:58am

It's an evil virus does no one good. Me, I've always
favored preparedness; if there's a piper to be paid, I want my cashback bonus
*and* my change. And so years before the world bled down from monoculture to
emptiness, I found myself a cabin, food, weapons, a blushing bride. (Though it
might have been the beatings turned her rosy pink.)

Six years gone, I haven't seen a soul in months. Could be I'm the last.
Certainly the missus hasn't made a sound.

I remind myself I've never been happier.

So why do I feel so alone?

(4) Claudia H Gruy 5:22am

The words rumbled like honey over fidgeting ants.
It was easy to shut out the evil when the world inside was so much quieter. And
peaceful. There hadn’t been much peace on the outside. Life tended to deliver
joy on swords point these days, edging the virus deeper into the soft tissue of
the rock beating inside her chest.
It was better that way.
“Are you even listening, Mother?”
She blushed and nodded at the piper. His monologue drifted and settled on the
aged pictures on the mantle.
Maybe it was time to advance in her dementia again.
She smiled.

(5) Aerisa 8:28am

Kara blushed as the piper stepped from the stage. He had
watched her all night and now came towards her with delightful purpose in his
step.

She glanced at her husband, checking the devil hadn’t noticed, but he was
preoccupied with the kimono-clad virus, scribbling a number onto his palm.

Kara smiled at the piper. His eyes burned into her as the final obstacle of
people stepped aside. She looked from his face to his chest, trailing down to
his dog. Her mind froze. His dog? Her heart sank and she let the blind man
pass.

And here are the finalists:

(1) River Cameron 10:05pm

“Ewww, he’s so-“

“…beautiful. The most beautiful-“

“…dork! He makes me-“

“…blush. I see her and I turn red, go-“

“…ballistic! In music class I wish he’d sit with the pipers and leave me-“

Donnaaaaa, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! It was a "WOW" out loud when I read it. Donna is the queen of twists. And, Shtrum, that must have been as much to fun to write as it was to read.These entrys were wonderful, congrats to all.Hey, piper hope you feel better. Been there, done that, mono sucks.

*waves to Piper* I am SO glad you are feeling better. I definitely have the t-shirt on that one.

A huge salute to all the finalists and shout-outs. As always, the depth and breadth of the use of the prompts is incredible.

To the winners, all I can say is that at first blush, the delicious evil of your tales broke the monotony of my day and led me like a Piper deeper and deeper until I was innoculated like a virus. And for that I thank you.

What. A. Surprise. I myself *gasped* when I saw I was a winner. Then I whooped, which made my little guy bark, which woke my husband...and...well you get the pic. I read most of these entries, and I thought, no way, I mean no way in El would I come close to winning.

Congrats to all mentions, semi's, and finalists. Thank you all so much for your kind comments!

And of course, a BIG thanks once again to the QOTKU for having the contest!

When I saw the results of the contest the morning I leaped out of bed and jumped for joy. It’s a Sharkly Miracle!There were so many amazing entries. I had enjoyed reading the winners several times yesterday. That last line of Donna’s was chilling. And the line that really got me laughing in ‘Rum’s was Cinderella’s deadpan: “BTW. Thanks for switching genres to investigate this, Mr. Holmes.”What a morale booster! I had so much fun checking in to see the latest entries! I feel so upbeat, I can’t stop using exclamation points! Help! I have a new, manic disease known in the textbooks as the “!!!!!!!!!” Virus!There’s only one cure, and that’s to get back to plugging away at the 3rd draft of my novel....

Thank you, Ms. Shark, for hosting. I loved these contest and am looking forward to the next ones. There's some great flash fiction writers out there, and it's a great learning experience to see what the sharks out there want :)

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